Bold and Bright: Three Casaza Designers Transform a Reader’s Dining Room

They work their magic to transform a Drew + Jonathan Reveal reader’s least favorite space.

The Challenge

Despite entertaining often, the Rosenblatt family of five, based just north of Chicago, struggled with making their large dining room feel warm and inviting. “We’d love it to feel like we could just as easily host guests for a formal holiday dinner as we could for a casual weekday family meal,” says Heather Rosenblatt. To help them, we enlisted three talented Casaza designers to reimagine this space as a cozy but elegant gathering spot. (All products available at casaza.com.)

Meet the Experts

Veronica Solomon

Founder of Casa Vilora Interiors, the Houston-based designer’s eclectic work has been featured in numerous publications—from Elle Decor to Better Homes & Gardens. Clients come to her for her masterful pattern mixing and love of color.

Louis Duncan-He

As the principal designer and creative director of Louis Duncan-He Designs, the Montrealand Calgary-based designer helps his clients create rooms that are effortless and timeless.

Rose Ott

Designing sophisticated, clean, and classic spaces, the Long Beach, New York–based designer’s philosophy is that “successful interior design enhances the quality of life.”

Veronica Solomon

Veronica transformed the Rosenblatts’ dining room into a cheerful space for entertaining using her signature mix of pattern and color. She chose a palette of green-blues and orange as her base and built the rest of the room around it.

The rug pulls the chairs and wallpaper together, the shades add a tailored element without being too serious, and a bench cushion and throw pillows brighten the window ledge for rainy-day reading. “Now this space is really ready for guests!” says Veronica.

Louis Duncan-He

To bring a sense of intimacy to the long room, Louis started with the walls. “I used wallpaper and paneling to provide some visual balance and a little more sophistication,” he says.

Next, he created the perfect spot for predinner drinks by adding two lounge chairs, a coffee table, and a couple of poufs, which create a dividing point between the dining area and lounge spot. That combined with a pair of brass floor lamps creates symmetry and helps break up the large room.

“I think it hits the perfect note between relaxed and beautiful entertaining,” he says.

Rose Ott

“My design objective for this room was to make it a comfortable and lively space for the family of five to come together for regular mealtimes and special occasions,” Rose says.

She started by choosing a palette of calming greens, then added architectural details for a little more charm. “The varying shades in the wallpaper add a pop of color to the classic white wainscoting and coffered ceiling,” she says.

To create a “mini–living room” where the family can hang out, Rose brought in a classic slipcovered sofa and side chairs and delineated the spaces with area rugs. Plenty of potted plants and cheerful palm wallpaper create a sense of bringing the outdoors in, year-round, which perks up the room even in a Chicago winter!

Shop the Looks

Renderings by Michael Panov | Product images courtesy of Casaza | Veronica Solomon headshot by Colleen Scott Photography | Louis Duncan-He headshot courtesy of Louis Duncan-He | Rose Ott headshot by Femy Aziz of Serengeti Design Studios